The Num8ers
by dfitz8248
Summary: A troubled girl has the power to see numbers. Numbers that are people's death dates. Later she will reach Elmore and maybe, just maybe things will change for the better. (Added a note and some more story to chapter 2)
1. Chapter 1

There will always be people like me. The kids who no one gives a crap about. The ones with no future, no hope, no salvation. The ones who will never experience true happiness or friendship.

We are considered scoundrels and treated as such daily. Many people look down upon us, glad that we won't get stuck with their kids in school... ruining them, making their kids' lives a misery comparable to our own.

Heck, even the teachers hate us. The ones who are suppose to enlighten us to new things, yet here, we are being "enlightened" to how shitty our lives are and how shitty they'll become.

Most of us hang out in small groups, twos and threes, to pass the time. Me? I like to be on my own, excluded from the world for a reason many would call me insane for: the Numbers.

Everywhere I look, I see a person and with them an accompanying 8-digit number. It's weird really. The number isn't physically there, but mentally. Upon looking at a person, a number would slowly form in my mind as though behind my eyes. Always 8-digits and always there.

Now you may think, "Oh, it's just a bunch of numbers," but it's not. They mean something. Something important to everyone no matter how rich or poor, dumb or smart. This is why I prefer seclusion: to escape other people's numbers. That's also why I was pissed when I went to my favorite spot by the canal only to find someone else there.

There was a raggedy looking guy, possibly a monkey. It was hard to tell from where I was standing. Upon seeing him sitting there, I decided that I'd just go somewhere else til he turned towards me.

"Girl, what are you doin' here?" he asked as I was walking away.

I turned towards him and instantly recognized him. It was Joe, a student from my class with Mr. Senior. He was somewhat of a class clown who talked back a lot and couldn't stand still worth a damn.

"That's very naughty of you. Skipping school like that," he said as he got up and walked towards me. "Can't blame you though. No one can stand Mr. Senior. Not even me." He brought his hands to his chest, pointing at himself.

I, on the other hand, just stood there, not even bothering to reply, hoping he'd get the message and walk away. But as always, he never got the message, and he advanced until he stood just a few inches from me. From this distance, I could smell him; he reeked of serious B.O. and cigarettes.

"Aren't you going to say something?" he said as he bent down to get a better look at my face. I lowered my chin so that my hoodie would cover my eyes from him.

"Oh, come on. Don't be like that," he said as he bent even lower, which was pretty hard to do for a figure of his height.

And once again, I saw him, except this time, his number was with him. 12202011. That's another thing that made me feel awkward near him: poor bastard didn't stand a chance with a number like that, coupling that with his smell made me want to get the hell out of there. So I did what any socially awkward person would do and walked right past him.

"Where are you goin'?" he practically shouted from behind me.

"Just walkin'," I mumbled.

"Oh, ok. We could walk and talk," Joe said as he caught up to my side. By now he was really irritating me, not knowing I wanted to be alone, but I guess that that's Joe for ya. Kids would even jokingly say, "He's not your average Joe," literally and metaphorically. This was perhaps the only sign they held even a little bit of intelligence. But what can I say? We live in the Projects. Intelligence, money, and honest living tend to be in short supply.

"So, you new around here?" he asked and I shrugged in reply. "You get kicked out your old school? Bein' a bad girl or the sorts?"

Yep, I thought to myself. Kicked out of my last school, my last home, the ones before that, and the ones before that. People just didn't realize I needed my space. Going around telling me what to do, how to live, and how to follow rules and routines, telling me that those were the steps to a brighter future. Hell, they don't know shit.

Joe pulled out a crumpled package from his pants pocket. "Do ya want a smoke?" he said as he opened the package and extracted 2 cigarettes. I stopped and looked down at his hands. "Well go on take one."

I reached over and picked up one of them. He pulled out his lighter and I put the cigarette in my mouth. He put the flame up to the tip of the cigarette and I inhaled until it caught. He too did the same and soon we both were smoking but a few yards from the canal. He drew the smoke in as if it was the best thing in the world. Meanwhile I stood there staring at him.

Just a few months to go and here he is smoking by the canal and skipping school. Couldn't really call it a life could ya. But it's the best he's got.

I went and sat down in the grass watching Joe be his usual restless self. He was going about everywhere, balancing on the wooden walls of the canal. Heck, he even got to the point where he'd leapt from the grass onto wooden walls of the canal with the balls of his feet. That's probably how he'll die. Jumping off of something, I thought to myself.

"Do you ever keep still?" I asked.

"Nah, I'm not like that. A statue. I like to keep moving. You see I got all this energy inside me." He began doing a little dance on the canal edge, nearly falling halfway through. I couldn't help but smile. It was perhaps the first time in years, and he turned and saw it plastered on my face, how ever slight it was.

"That's a nice smile you got there," he said staring at me.

That did it for me. I've never liked personal comments. My smile instantly vanished. "Fuck off."

"Woah. I didn't mean nutin' serious by it."

"Yeah, well, I don't like it."

"You don't like lookin' at people either, do ya?" I shrugged in reply as I continued looking at the ground.

"People think you're up yourself never botherin' to look at them in the eye or even glimpse at them."

"Well, I got personal reasons for that, too," I said.

"Whatever... How 'bout this? I'll never say anything nice to you again. Ok?" I hesitated for a bit.

"Ok," I sighed.

All the while, I actually enjoyed his company. Half of me wanted this. Wanted someone to hang out with and talk to. But the other half of me said "No." To run away while I have the chance to escape the inevitable. The fact that one day, if we become friends, we would be separated, and a hole would be left, one I was sure I wouldn't be able to fix. This was why previously I never had any friends. I was afraid of the separation and being left with nothing but memories left in place of them. A hollow shell of what they were.

I looked back up at Joe and saw him bouncing restlessly from foot to foot, unable to contain the obvious amount of energy stored in his body. He seemed like such a good person. Maybe not on paper cause he gave me cigarette within a few seconds of meeting me, but just overall, he seemed like a good guy. Still, I bitterly thought to myself, he'll be gone within a few months, and it's better to just leave now than watch him leave. So while his back was turned, I got up silently and ran off.

Upon hearing my footsteps he turned towards me. "Hey where you goin'?" I offered no reply in return. "Fine be that way," I heard his voice say as it slowly faded behind me, just like the memory of him would after his departure.

* * *

**I would like to give a huge shout out to Marches. He helped beta my story and in terms of writing quality he brought it up a lot. So thank you Marches, this story means a lot to me. Just hope you get over this idea that everything you write sucks.**

**Unlike before I WILL continue this story. If I don't then I decided I should just give up on fanfiction. Anyways thank you for reading this chapter. Review only if you feel the need to.**


	2. Chapter 2

After a few minutes I stopped to catch my breath and instantly got mad at myself.

What the HELL is wrong with me? Why did I just do that? Here I had a chance to have a friend and escape this earthly hell I call my life. Why can't I just be normal for once in my god damn life?

In my little rage I looked around for something to hit. Something to absorb my anger.

To my dismay all I saw was abandoned "brick" buildings. Upon seeing nothing softer I gave up and slumped to the ground.

"Fuck me... Fuck my life," I muttered quietly to myself as I sat there wishing I could redo what I had just done. But as always it couldn't be redone. I probably lost my only chance and I knew it.

I slowly got back up, keeping my view on the ground as I did so, and walked "home".

To my 5th one that is.

Along the way I passed street after street, block after block, hobo after hobo until I finally got to my "home". I looked up and saw it just a few yards in front of me.

It carried a cruel reminder of how I had no parents; with the word "Orphanage" blatantly stated upon the front of one of the two doors leading inside. And it was but a matter of seconds til I pushed one of those very doors open and entered the orphanage.

Inside it was very clean. Evidence of how Mahilda (pronounced muh-hill-da) worked us hard to the bone. I guess it was in her nature. She was a bear after all and always loved throwing her weight around, though unbeknownst to most people she had a softer side. Though it rarely ever showed.

After walking in I took a right down a hallway and after counting five doors on my left I stopped and entered the door to my left. Inside the 8' by 6 1/2' room was a bed, a nightstand and a few of my personal belongings.

The bed was at the far end of the room, filling up the entire 6 1/2' wall. The nightstand, on the other hand, was propped against the corner closest to the door and my possessions... well they were sorta everywhere.

After walking in I glanced to my right, as I always did, and looked at the picture on top of my nightstand. It showed a picture of three wolfs next to each other, obviously happy and obviously a family.  
The youngest was a girl, who had gray fur and a tiny black bow placed upon her head. She was between the two older ones who were hardly staring at the camera, but instead staring intently into each other's eyes. The older male wolf was black and the female wolf was white.

Behind the trio there was an ocean larger and more vast than any other in the world, and just right above it was the sun. The light rays cascaded over and into the clouds, creating colors so vibrant and beautiful it nearly outmatched the beauty of the family who's picture was taken.

It seemed perfect, so perfect in fact that it might make one stop and ponder over if such a thing could last forever and the answer was "NO".

Like always, after I saw the picture I got into my bed. It was my sanctuary, sort of. In it I could escape my present troubles, but at the same time it threatened me with past memories. Both the bright but mostly dark ones. And as I laid in my bed a memory of my past came upon me.

It was perhaps the most common one. The one of my dad.

*Flashback*- 10 years ago. July 16, 2001

It was about 7:30 PM, but because it was summer there was still a small sliver of light in the sky.

Me and my dad were at the city park which we always went to on Saturdays. Today my dad was especially nice and allowed me to play a little longer than normal.

"Weeee," I let out as I went down my favorite slide (tube slide) at the park. Unknown to me my dad was at the opening and when I reached the bottom he jumped out and scared me.

"Aaggghhh," he let out with his paws out in a menacing manner on each side. I squealed in delight and fear at his sudden appearance, landing on the ground with a soft thud. Once I got over my fit of giggles he scooped me up into his arms.

"I'm sorry honey but its time to go. I've let you out long enough and I don't want to keep mommy worried. Ok," he said looking at me in his arms.

"Ok daddy," I said back as I looked up at him. Once again I saw a number. The same number I always saw when I looked at his eyes. 07162001. He then placed me back down.

"That's my girl. Now come on, we're already late for dinner." He walked forward a few steps then turned back and reached his paw out to me. I grabbed it and we preceded to walk home.

15 minutes later

We were about 10 more minutes away from home when I saw a group of guys leaning against a wall. My dad noticed them as well and assuming they were trouble tried to go around them. Once they saw us though, they moved to intercept and soon all 5 of the men were in front of us. They were all big and upon seeing them up close I began to hug my dad's leg.

The leader of the "gang" stepped forward. He was a gator who was fairly built and obviously a fighter. At his waist he held a knife and on his cheek he had what appeared to be a glancing (knife) blow.

Reptiles have always scared me and seeing one so big and so close, I buried my head into my dad's side.

"We're going to keep this simple. You give us your money and we'll let you go on your merry way," I heard the Gator say to my father.

"I don't have any money," Dad said back.

"Sure you don't. Now I'm going to give you one more chance. Either you give us your money or else," the Gator demanded once again.

I felt dad reach into his pocket slowly.

Before I knew what happened one of the thugs pulled out a gun and shot my dad. I felt it as it impacted his body, instantly killing him. He crumpled to the ground and I just stood there staring at him. Tears instantly started flooding my eyes.

"daddy," I said quietly, to a taken back by what just happened to know what to say. "Daddy," I said again hoping he'd reply.

I bent down next to him for what felt like an eternity and stared at his eyes, except this time there was no movement and no number.

*One hour later*

I awoke to find a large white figure next to me. As my eyes adjusted it was no other than Mahilda, with her hands on her hips, and a scowl on her face.

"Is there any particular reason why you are here when school hasn't even ended yet?" She questioned me.

Hardly bothering to keep my eyes open I replied, "Didn't feel good."

She knew I was lying, but oddly enough she didn't even care this time around.

"Whatever," Mahilda said as she walked out of my room, "Your future not mine. Though this doesn't mean I will EVER allow you to skip your chores. You hear?"

"Yes, Ma'am," I mumbled knowing that that's what she wanted to hear.

"Good."

After she said that she walked out and closed the door. Then I slowly drifted back into sleep

*Flashback*- 10 years ago. July 16, 2001

I slowly looked back up at the crooks. My face now full of tears and as I gazed at them, one of them began to speak.

"So what do we do? We can't just leave her here," he said with some pity laced with his voice. Instantly the Gator turned around and grabbed the gang member by the front of his shirt with two hands.

"WHY SHOULD YOU CARE? HUH? WE AREN'T HERE TO CRY AND BITCH. WE ARE HERE TO GET MONEY AND THAT'S WHAT I'M GUNNA GET!" The Gator screamed into the gang member's face. After he finished he released the gang member, who stumbled backwards. Then he walked towards me. His steps large and his purpose clear.

I shuffled back a few feet away from my dad, afraid to be in the Gator's way. The Gator, not even bothering to look my way, then bent down and reached into my dad's pocket. He pulled out my dad's wallet and pocketed it. He also took my dad's gun which after inspection he took with him. Once done he walked back towards his gang.

"Lets go before the police show up," and at that the Gator ran off, his goonies right behind him.

Right before they all disappeared out of sight, a mouse, the same person who felt sorry for me earlier, glanced back at me. He seemed to be debating something, tellable by the look on his face. Seconds later though police sirens could be heard in the distance and he turned and ran.

**Alright people I'm finally back and decided to continue this story... Why? Because for some reason people see potential in this story and also a friend of mine wanted to write a story that works in tandem with this story.**

**Basically his chapter 1 occurs roughly the same time as my chapter 1 and so on. Think of it as a different point of view in the same universe that occurs around the same time.**


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